Halakot

The body of religious law which constitutes one of the three main divisions of Jewish oral tradition. Later, the singular form "halakah" was generally adopted, even in reference to a whole collection of halakot, just as "haggadah" took the place of "haggadot." The Halakot were codified by R. Judah ha-Nasi and formed the juridical body of his Mishnah. Thereafter the term "Mishnah" displaced the term "Halakot," except in Palestine, where, even after the codification, the use of the term "Halakot" was continued, so that the Mishnah was known there as "Halakot" (Lev. R. iii.).

Bibliography:

  * Bacher, Die Aelteste Terminologie der Jüdischen Schriftauslegung, pp. 34, 42, Leipsic, 1899.



E. C. M. Sc.